They have stopped serving shots in the backpacker bars of Vang Vieng. The night spots of this south-east Asian tourist town would normally be full of young travellers downing traditional Lao whiskey,

The deaths of six foreign tourists linked to a suspected mass methanol poisoning has thrown a spotlight on a small town in Southeast Asia that has worked hard in recent years to shed its reputation for excess.

A British woman has become the fifth foreign tourist to die in a suspected mass methanol poisoning in Laos, as a growing list of countries warned of the potentially fatal consequences of drinking tainted alcohol in the Southeast Asian country.

A British lawyer who died in a suspected mass drink-spiking case in Laos was “one of a kind”, her family have said.

Five foreign tourists have died after a suspected mass methanol poisoning from drinking tainted alcohol at a backpacker hotspot in Laos, Western government officials and media said Thursday.